by T. K. Chapin
She lifted her eyes to meet mine.
I leaned my forehead against hers as I peered into her eyes. “Our wedding day might be just a series of photos in a scrapbook now, but it’ll forever be the best decision I’ve made in my life, Susan. I love you.”
The End.
After the Fire
By:
T.K. Chapin
www.tkchapin.com
Copyright © 2015 T.K. Chapin All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
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Version: 12.30.2015
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Dedicated to my loving wife.
For all the years she has put up with me
And many more to come.
CHAPTER 1
Looking into the mirror that hung above the sink my wife, Denise, and I shared, I straightened the tie that hung around my neck. It was Sunday morning, my favorite day of the week. It not only marked the beginning of a week in the traditional sense, but it also served as the day of the week specifically set aside for God.
Church, God and the Bible had been my strength for decades. No matter how crazy the world got outside, I knew on the inside that God and the Scriptures never changed. There was comfort in that fact, which my soul clung to and helped me to stay levelheaded for many years. From difficulties in marriage to losing a firefighter buddy and captain, God remained the same and helped me.
“Hey, Dad,” Jasmine said from the doorway that connected the master bedroom to the en-suite. She was our eighteen-year-old baby girl who was now looking forward to graduating from high school in a few months.
I looked into those sweet brown eyes through the reflection in the mirror and raised my eyebrows. “What’s up?”
“I’m not feeling so good . . .” She grabbed at her abdomen as she leaned into the doorframe, trying to lay on the dramatics.
I turned around and walked over to her. Placing one of my arms around her shoulders, I brought my other hand up to her forehead to check for a fever. “You don’t feel warm. You sure? Or are you trying to get out of church again?”
She recoiled out of my grasp and furrowed her eyebrows. “Why do I have to go?”
“We go as a family, dear, every week. You know that.”
Jasmine had started pulling away from church about the time she turned eighteen. She carried that look of being torn between two worlds, one where she was free and one where she still wanted to please us. Each time I had a disagreement with her, I could see the desire for freedom burn in her eyes.
“Okay . . .” she said, walking away without another word.
“Come back here, please,” I said.
She came back to the doorway. “What?” she asked, her chin dipped and her tone soft.
Using the tip of my index finger, I pulled her chin up to look her in the eyes. “I love you, Jasmine. I know you have a lot of emotions and . . . stuff going on inside of you right now. I know you want your freedom, and it will happen. You just have to wait.” Denise came into the bedroom and over to us. I smiled at her and looked back to Jasmine. “Your mother has been there too, dear. Doing the right thing and obeying us is going to pay off in the long run. You know that. The Bible speaks directly and plainly on such matters.”
“I know, Dad,” Jasmine replied as she wiped her eyes. “It’s just hard. I’m going to get ready for church.” She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. “I love you.” She walked away and headed for the door.
Denise came over to me and said, “Our baby is going away to college soon, Micah . . .”
“I know. Speaking of, has she heard from Eastern yet?” I asked, turning and heading back into the bathroom to brush my teeth.
Denise followed me into the bathroom and shook her head. “When are you going to give that up? She doesn’t want to go to that college. She didn’t even apply.”
“But she applied to Rowan University that’s in what? New York?” I said as I stopped brushing.
“New Jersey. But yes, it’s a really great fit. She liked the looks of it on the website.”
“It just would have been neat to see her to go to Eastern Washington where you and I attended. I’ve been there—no website needed—it’s amazing.”
Denise smiled at me in the mirror as I put my toothbrush back in the holder. “That would be neat, and she’d be close.”
I turned to her and nodded. “It’s very close.” I outstretched my hand with my palm up and said, “It’s not clear across the country!” God pressed against my mind. Denise put her hand on my shoulder and rubbed my back a little as she smiled.
“God knows what He’s doing,” she said.
“You’re right.”
After church let out, Denise and I took Jasmine out to lunch. On the drive to the restaurant, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Jasmine staring blankly out her window. She looked like an inmate being taken out for an hour of outdoor time, not the little princess that I’d raised for the last eighteen years. Hoping to pry myself into her world, I spoke up.
“How was youth group?” I asked as I looked at her reflection in the mirror.
She didn’t say anything, just shrugged in the slightest way possible to exert the smallest amount of energy.
Her coldness stung. Even though it happened more and more the older she got, it still hurt me every time it happened. What had happened to the Jasmine that was so easy to talk to? When she was younger, Denise and I could barely keep her quiet in the backseat after church. Now we’d be lucky to hear anything from her.
Taking a seat at a table in the restaurant, Jasmine sat directly opposite of us. She looked over at her mom and asked, “Could I have my cellphone back now? Still don’t understand why I can’t have my cellphone at church. I’m eighteen years old.”
“She does speak,” I said sarcastically.
Jasmine ignored the comment and Denise smiled as she pulled her purse up onto the table.
“You can’t have it because you have to respect Joel and how he wants to run the youth group.”
Denise looked through her purse for a few moments and then stopped. “I can’t find it,” Denise said, moving the purse back down to the seat beside her.
“What? Why?” Jasmine snapped.
“Hey,” I said in a firm tone.
“What am I supposed to do now, Dad?”
I took a deep breath in and let it escape my lips as I took a moment for myself. I didn’t appreciate the tone or attitude she was using. Leaning across the table, I motioned Jasmine to lean in. In a low and deep voice, I said, “Listen–you know you can’t speak to your mother that way. You need to apologize, right now, Jasmine.”
Jasmine leaned back into her seat. With a quick turn of her head, she looked at Denise and said, “Sorry.”
“Thank you,” I said as the waitress came over with our drinks. As she set the drinks down on napkins in front of each of us, I looked over at Jasmine and caught a glimpse of that rare smile on her face. It was the little moments like that which made all the painful moments more tolerable. God had blessed my wife and me with a beautiful daughter, and soon she’d be on the road to college.
CHAPTER 2
Cracking open my faithful Bible the next morning in the dining hall at the station, I felt my mind and body begin to unwind and relax. There were still at least twenty minutes left before the other guys would start showing up for their shift. I needed God’s promises more than ever after hearing a disturbing news report of more unrest i
n the Middle East on the way into work. My relationship with God through prayer and the Scriptures were like water to my soul. I needed Him.
Some people, like Ted at the station, found my lack of interest in the current affairs of the world and politics to be a sign of ignorance, but I counted it as obedience of what God’s Word had instructed me to do. Philippians 4:8 was a passage I clung to.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
While I have always stayed informed on major happenings, I always put God first and let Him lead my thoughts. With so much noise and chaos that goes on in the world, I couldn’t imagine living any other way but by the Word.
Thumbing through my Bible, I came to the book of Job. My Bible study worksheet for Job marked the third chapter, which was the day’s reading. Pausing, I folded my hands together to pray before starting in on my study.
Dear God. Thank you for this day and the time I have to fellowship with you. Bless the reading and help me to see You through the words I digest today. Thank you for my family, job and co-workers. In your Heavenly name, I pray, Amen.
A depressing and gloomy read, I finished the chapter feeling bad for the guy. I pulled the worksheet out to start in on the questionnaire that went along with the chapter. The study wanted me to formulate a few sentences on what Job’s point of view was of himself. Skimming back over the chapter, I came to the conclusion that Job wished he was never born. Leaning back in my seat, I put my hands behind my head and clasped them together as I thought about how it might feel to be at the point where I cursed my own birth.
“Freeman,” Cole said as he walked into the dining hall from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand.
My contemplative, emotionless face turned into a smile at the sight of Cole. Dropping my hands, I stood up and reached a hand out to shake his. “How’s it going, Brother? You’re here a little early.”
“It’s going well,” Cole replied, shaking my hand. He set his cup of coffee down and took off his jacket. “Job study going okay?” he asked as he sat down and raised his chin as he attempted to peek at my worksheet.
“Yeah. How was your day off?”
“Good. Spent a lot of time with Megan and the boys after church,” he replied. “Oh, and yesterday at Church the Youth Pastor approached me about helping out with the football team they’re putting together for the summer.”
“That’s great,” I replied. “You finally found something to do around the church.”
“Yep. God’s good.” Cole smiled as she shook his head slightly and looked at his coffee. “God’s good.”
“Yes He is.”
“Jasmine getting pretty excited to graduate? I saw that Denise already sent out the online barbeque invites for May.”
I laughed. “Yeah. Little early for those invites, but at least she’s on top of it. As for Jasmine . . .” I paused with a bit of hesitation in my voice. “Between last month being her birthday and June being only a few months away, she’s burning to get out of the house.”
“Hey, man. You raised a fine young lady. She’ll do all right in this world if she gets even a tenth of the wisdom you’ve fed her.”
I nodded. “I know. I just worry about her being clear across the country when she hasn’t ever been away from home for more than a few nights.”
“God’s in control, Freeman. You know that.” Cole took a drink of his coffee and glanced down at the worksheet that was in front of me. “What’s Job doing today?” he asked.
I smiled as I glanced down at the worksheet. “He’s struggling pretty hard. Cursing the day he was born and all.”
Cole nodded. “When I did that study I was surprised by a few of the questions. I’d never really done a study on Job before, and I learned so much through reading it again with a study aid.”
“Yeah, I’m in that same boat. Read it before, but never with an aid. Pretty intense,” I replied, picking up the papers. “And deep.”
“I’ll be honest. Kind of freaked me out that God let a good man get tortured like that. To let Job suffer so horribly . . .” Cole shook his head as he took another drink of his coffee.
Seeing Cole’s concern drawn all over his face. I offered a word of insight I felt he needed. “God doesn’t think like we do. We’re limited in our ability to understand a decision or the impact of something that happens. Check it out. God knew Job would endure through it all because He could see into the future. He also saw the book of Job in the Bible inspiring believers for years down the line. God even knew at the moment of Job’s suffering that you and I would be sitting here talking about it today. He sees beyond the temporary pain and has the entire picture in front of Him. It’s all about how you look at the situation, you know? We have to keep our perspective broad, but our minds narrowly focused on God.”
Cole’s face softened and he smiled. “Smart, Freeman. Just like the funnel you told me about.”
“Yep. Focused on God, we funnel everything in life through Him. Doing so helps us in our moments of weakness.”
Cole and I chatted a bit longer before the rest of the guys showed up at the station. He had become one of the closest friends I’d ever had in my life.
The shift that day seemed to drag on endlessly. Only one call came in, around two in the afternoon, and it was a false alarm. After that call, Cole and I decided to go to a few classrooms at the nearby elementary school to teach fire safety. We arrived back at the station later in the day, had dinner with the crew, and then retired to our sleeping quarters after a relaxing evening of classic football games on the television.
We were all asleep when the siren in the room started blaring. Leaping from my bed, I hurried out the doorway with the rest of the guys and down to the bay.
As we suited up in our turnouts, Cole said, “We have a four-story fire down on Grant Avenue. There are multiple families trapped up top.”
I knew what that meant. There was going to be a need for the aerial ladder. “I’ll take the controls.”
“Good,” Cole replied. He went and jumped in the front of the engine truck to get his laptop fired up.
“I can do the controls if you want,” Kane said.
“That’s all right, McCormick. It’s dark out, and by the sounds of it there are multiple families trapped.” I pulled my suspenders over my chest and put on my coat.
“So?” Kane replied as he slid his hands into his gloves.
I paused and put a hand on his shoulder and said, “You have to pick the family with the most people to rescue first, or if they’re the same sizes, decide who gets to be rescued and who has to wait. It can be nerve racking.”
Kane went white as a ghost. I patted him on the shoulder and went around the ladder truck to get into the driver’s seat. The aerial ladder was an excellent piece of equipment in our arsenal as firefighters, and while we didn’t use it often, it was one piece of equipment you were happy to have when you did need it. I hadn’t lost a soul using the ladder, but I had heard horror stories from the other stations about people dying in aerial rescues. That fear stuck with me every time I had to use it during a rescue.
Arriving at the scene, I glanced through the windshield and up at the flames as they reached into the night sky. The yellows, oranges and reds danced across the night. Cole and the rest of the engine truck crew were already there. Cole was busy telling people where to go while I was scrambling to find a good spot to park the ladder truck. If I positioned it too far away from the structure, there was a risk of not being able to reach the people. Too close would also jeopardize my ability to reach the people.
Finally, I found the perfect spot. The only issue was that I’d have to roll the truck over two charged hose lines that were being used. It was never recommended to roll a truck over a fire hose, but when lives are in the equation, you s
ometimes don’t have an option.
Getting on my radio, I radioed for Cole. “Taylor.”
“Go ahead, Freeman.”
“I’m rolling over two charged lines. Just a heads up.”
I could see Cole look over at me through the windshield. “Copy that.”
Moving the truck, I rolled carefully over the lines to make sure not to destroy the couplings. Just then, the chief showed up in his car. He wore a pair of blue jeans, a coat and a red Station 9 ball cap. Walking straight up to Cole, he adjusted his cap as he talked to him. Sometimes the Chief would randomly show up to fires to watch how operations unfolded.
After parking the truck, I spotted Kane across the way as he seemed to be finished cutting the power to the structures.
“McCormick, come here,” I radioed to him as I went to grab the wheel chocks that help to ensure that the truck doesn’t roll forward.
He jogged over to me at the truck as I slid the chock under the front left wheel. “I’ll get the stabilizers going,” he said.
I nodded up at him and he went to the back of the ladder truck. Coming around to the other side, I saw him check around the corner of the truck to make sure it was clear and begin to extend the stabilizer legs on the truck.
After I finished, I helped him set the stabilizers for the truck.
Glancing up at the building as I climbed up the side of the truck, I looked at the two families. One was a family of three; the other was only a man and a woman. Getting to the pedestal on top of the back of the truck, I made sure the hydraulic pressure was adequate before raising the ladder.
Kane stayed below on the grass behind me as I brought the ladder up and rotated it. I brought the ladder bucket down to the grass, and Kane ran over and leaped in. I began to bring him up and toward the first group, the family of three.